Comanche Woman (17 page)

While their days had been spent in pleasant conversation, their nights had been fraught with tension. Bay wasn’t sure who was to blame for that. It was easier to name Long Quiet as the culprit. After all, he was the one who’d demanded she lie beside him. But he hadn’t insisted that she seek out the heat of his body at night or that she burrow close. Bay blamed her actions on her loneliness. It had simply felt too good to be held in his arms not to take advantage of the opportunity.

This morning she’d awoken with her knee pressed intimately between his thighs, her breasts flattened against his chest, her nose and mouth nestled in the arch of his throat, her hands . . . Bay flushed as she remembered where her hands had been. One hand had been tangled in his hair, while the other had been curved snugly around Long Quiet’s naked buttocks, holding him tight against her belly.

Bay closed her eyes and gritted her teeth as she remembered what had happened then. Long Quiet’s callused fingertips had slowly traveled the length of her spine, from the dimples above her buttocks to the nape of her neck. She’d shivered and arched her body into his from thigh to breast.

There had been nothing to fear in their closeness, and she’d allowed herself to enjoy the pleasurable tensing within her body. She didn’t for a moment suspect Long Quiet had more in mind than holding her exactly like this. After all, it had been two weeks and not once had he forced an unwanted touch. Nor was this touch unwanted, Bay had admitted to herself.

It was hard to say what would have happened if Little Deer hadn’t chosen that moment to squirm in between them. In the light of day, Bay told herself she was grateful to the child. At least, she thought she was. But remembering the look on Long Quiet’s face, she didn’t think he’d been grateful at all. She looked at him now. Did he want to talk about what had happened this morning? Was that why he seemed so . . . distracted?

As though sensing Bay’s eyes on him, Long Quiet turned to her. He straightened his back and leaned against the rocky butte, letting his hands hang off his bent knees. Then he shifted again, straightening his legs and letting his hands drop to his lap. But he couldn’t seem to get comfortable. He rubbed at the frown wrinkling the bridge of his nose, then looked off into the distance. “I have to leave here soon.”

Bay was stunned. “What?”

“I have to meet Creed in Laredo in about ten days.” His voice grated with tension as he added, “Then I’ll be going down into Mexico on some business, and I don’t know when I’ll be back.”

“You never said—”

“It doesn’t matter now what I said or didn’t say,” he interrupted irritably. “The fact is I have to leave. I can stay until the buffalo hunt is finished, but no longer. Once the hunt begins, we won’t have much time together. That’s why I wanted to talk with you now.”

But he didn’t say anything, just pursed his lips and stared out over the prairie.

When Bay couldn’t stand the suspense another second, she blurted, “What did you want to talk about?”

“I want . . . I want to know if you’ve reconsidered your decision to stay here.”

He sounded angry, and somehow Bay knew that what he’d said wasn’t at all what he’d intended to say.

“I can’t leave! You know that.”

“Why not?”

Bay scrambled to her feet, away from the intensity of his stare. “We’ve been through all this before.”

He came swiftly to his feet behind her, his strong hands clasping her shoulders to keep her from fleeing. “I’m asking again.” He struggled for control, then said more quietly, “After this morning . . .”

Bay waited for him to finish his thought. When he dropped his hands, she turned to search his face. She took a deep breath and asked, “What about this morning?”

“If you won’t come away with me, I want at least the memory of the two of us together. This morning I would have had that—you were willing, I think—had not Little Deer come between us.”

She flushed, unable to admit what was nevertheless true. “What do you want me to say? That I am willing?”

“Are you?”

Bay bit her lower lip. She could tell Long Quiet was tense, anxious. But his eyes burned with desire. Anticipation sent the blood rushing in her veins. Fear knotted her stomach and choked her speech. This was so cold, so calculated. Why couldn’t he have simply taken her and not made her responsible for the decision?

Sensing her fear, he spoke. “I will not force you, Shadow. Above all things, I want you willing.”

Bay felt desire welling inside her. Yes! Why not say yes? Why shouldn’t she know what it felt like to take this man inside her, to make him a part of her? When he left, she would be so alone! The memory of one night . . . and not a night with just any man, but this particular man.

She admired the patience that had allowed him to tame the stallion instead of breaking it. She appreciated the gentleness that had allowed him to hold a child in his arms and tell her a bedtime story. She respected the strength of character that had allowed him to do a woman’s work undaunted by the possibility of another’s scorn. And only this morning her body had heated to the touch of his hands.

Yet she was afraid to make such a monumental decision. No wonder she’d been such a disappointment to her father. Bay felt despair rising, and it brought a lump to her throat. She dropped her chin to her chest. Why couldn’t she answer him the way she wished?

Long Quiet stepped back, and the chance was gone. With a fluid grace that never ceased to amaze her, he turned and strode away.

Long Quiet was in a killing mood when he left Bay, furious that he’d left the choice up to her, furious that she’d denied him. He tried to tell himself it was better this way.

But it wasn’t. Now he would spend the rest of his life knowing he’d held her in his arms . . . but never made her his woman.

Chapter 9

B
AY LOOKED OUT OVER THE HUGE HERD OF BUFFALO WITH
an awe that hadn’t diminished over the years. The humpbacked beasts drifted across the prairie like waves of water on sand, suddenly flooding the land and as suddenly gone again. Today, the Comanches would harvest what buffalo they needed for food and clothing to survive the winter. Both Long Quiet and Many Horses were among the hunters on horseback who circled the mammoth shaggy animals. The hunt was dangerous for all involved, and Bay shivered with the excitement she always felt during the hunt.

The past three days without Long Quiet had been miserable. One minute she hoped he’d come to her in the darkness. The next she was glad he’d made the break between them so complete. But until he left the village there was always the chance he would change his mind, and the thought of what would happen then had left her edgy and nervous. It was all she could do to wait quietly with the other women to butcher the buffalo once they were killed. After conversing so often with Long Quiet, it was harder to hold her tongue and merely listen when the women began to talk.

“Many Horses hunts without the protection of his
puha
because of Shadow,” She Touches First said loud enough for Bay to easily overhear her.

“What has happened?” one of the women asked.

“He Decides It made medicine after Many Horses gave Shadow to Long Quiet. The
puhakut
told Many Horses he had broken his tabu by giving Shadow to another man and that it could be dangerous for him if she stayed in the village.”

“Should that choice not be up to Many Horses?” another of the women pointed out.

“She has used her medicine to cloud Many Horses’ eyes to the harm that may befall him,” She Touches First said. “That is why he has refused to send her away. We should cast her out from among us and leave her to work her sorcery with the vultures and the wolves.”

“If she is so powerful, could she not use her medicine against us as well?” Red Wing pointed out.

“The wolves will tear her flesh, and the vultures will pick her bones clean. Her spirit will wander the Otherworld crippled and blind. How can she then be a threat to any of us?” She Touches First replied.

Fear knotted Bay’s stomach, but it was as much fear for Many Horses as for herself. Even though she’d denied having any special powers, Many Horses believed she did. How frightening it must be for him to know his
puha
had been destroyed by one impulsive act. How awful to know he no longer possessed any special protection from the perilous life he led.

Neither was she safe now. The accusation of sorcery was a serious one, for sorcery was one of the few crimes recognized by the Comanches. If She Touches First convinced the women of the village that Shadow was practicing magic, one of them would soon find a way to permanently end the menace she represented. She shuddered at the implications the
puhakut
’s decree held for her, and she was completely sobered by the risk Many Horses had taken by not following the
puhakut
’s advice.

“Ah! Look! The hunt has begun. May the Great Spirit guard Many Horses now.”

Bay followed She Touches First’s pointing finger and saw the buffalo shifting as the Comanches herded them in the direction of a deep ravine several miles away. There, the irrevocable push of the buffalo in back would send those in front over a precipice to their deaths.

Bay had only moments to stop Many Horses before he would be committed to the hunt. She didn’t want to be the cause of his death. Without his
puha
to protect him he would not have the peace of mind, the certainty of success, that was necessary to keep him safe from the capricious buffalo. She had to convince him not to take part in the hunt.

Bay took off on foot toward Many Horses, so single-minded in her pursuit of him that she didn’t see the buffalo bull that had been separated from the herd. Nor was she aware that the bull had caught her scent and was pawing the ground. She ran fleet-footed, skirting cholla cactus, jumping tumbleweeds and small hills like a deer in flight.

“Shadow! Look out!”

Bay heard Long Quiet’s shouted warning and paused to look over her shoulder. She nearly stumbled in fright. An angry buffalo was bearing down on her at full speed, his eyes white at the rims and foamy saliva flecking his mouth. His trumpeting challenge was lost in the thunder of his hooves.

Long Quiet kneed his pony into the milling buffalo herd that separated him from Bay. “Run!” he shouted. “Run!”

His anguished cry set Bay in motion again, but it was a race she could not win.

Many Horses watched the unfolding drama as though it were happening in a distant time and space. He knew this was the awful moment He Decides It must have seen in his medicine vision. He’d warned Many Horses that if he kept Shadow, there would soon come a time when the Great Spirit would make him choose between her life and his own. Angry at the result of the
puhakut
’s vision, Many Horses had stubbornly refused to act upon it before the hunt. He saw now the folly of his decision.

Bay’s breath rasped in gusts and a sharp pain pierced her side. Her legs ached and she pumped her arms harder to keep moving. She stumbled and almost fell, gasping when she managed to regain her footing. She could almost feel the fiery breath of the buffalo behind her, feel the earth trembling beneath her feet from his pounding weight.

Suddenly a pair of strong arms yanked her up off the ground. She clutched at the saving strength, barely aware of the low, murmuring voice soothing her fears even as callused fingers soothed her trembling body. Her face was pressed against a muscular chest and strong arms crushed her in their grasp. She inhaled the aroma of the man and realized it wasn’t Many Horses who held her, but Long Quiet.

She jerked her head around to look for Many Horses, only to discover he’d driven his pony between her and the furious bull. She Touches First’s warning rang in Bay’s head and she struggled to be free.

Long Quiet tightened his hold on Bay and said in a voice harshened by his fear for her, “Be still. You’re safe now.”